Machine for separating solid materials



April 25, 1939. F. N. FAlRBANK 2,155,587 l i MACHINE FOR SEPARATING RSOLID MATERIALS v Filed oct. 7, 1957 Patented Apr. 25, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE MACHINE FOR SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS Application October 7, 1937, Serial No. 167,763

3 Claims.

The principal objects of this invention are to provide a separating or sifting machine which will take a body of ground ore, or any other material, of varying sizes, and deliver it to a series of containers all of different sizes; to accomplish this result in a comparatively inexpensive and flexible manner; to improve the shape of the rotary sifting or separating devices arranged for so adjusting them so that the course of the material through the machine will be controlled by the operator.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter,

Reference is to be had to the gure, which is a side view oi the preferred embodiment of this machine.

In general the machine involves three or more or less rotary members A, B and C. Each one of these members has means for rotating it on its own axis. The separator A is driven by an arrangement of an axle I0, a hub I3 and a pulley I4 with a bearing I5. This bearing I5 is mounted on a pivot I5 adapted to be adjusted about a stationary support I7. The bearing can be fixed to the shaft i8 by means of a nut I9 yand a suitable construction on the other side so that the angle of this bearing I5 and the shaft I0 and the sifter A can be changed at will. The hub I3 is xed to the end of the sifter A and both the hub and sifter are provided with perforations 20 at this point in order that the sand or ore, or other material, may be sifted into a hopper 2l and from that into a barrel or other container 22. The latter can be removed and replaced at will in order to cart away the finest grade of the material produced by this machine.

It will be seen also that the material which is introduced into the separator A will, if the speed is too fast, or if the operator desires to form two separations, be dropped out of the large end into a hopper 22 and eventually into a barrel or cask 23.

This sifter or separator A is not, as has usually been the case, a conical hopper but the curve of the bottom of the separator is continuous. This curve preferably is substantially in the form of a hyperbola in the sifter A and it is curved in this form in order to provide the wide base for receiving the material and to proportionate it properly for discharging it at the center and also at the edge.

The next sifter or separator B is of a modied hyperbolic form with all the edges curved preferably and a comparatively sharp point with respect to the point of the separator A. The separator B is comparatively narrowly curved so that it can project at its end into the edge of the separator A and, through its perforations 24, deliver part of its product into it and part of it outside. This separator B is provided with a series of perforations 24 in the point thereof and also discharges through these perforationsA into the hopper 22 so that the material received by the hopper 22 is what can pass through the perforations 24, which are larger than the perforations 2@ and are not really treated by the sifter A. This separator B has a shaft 25 in a bearing 2B and a pulley 21 for rotating it. The bearing 25 is mounted similarly to the bearing I5 on a shaft 28, so that it can be set at the desired angle, This separator also can discharge at its outer end into a hopper 3l! which delivers into ya Cask 3l, if it is tilted up enough or speeded up enough.

The ore, gravel, sand, or other material, is introduced into the machine through a hopper 31 which directs it into the rotating receiver C. This rotating receiver is mounted in a bearing 32 operated the same as the rest of the bearings. It has a long hollow chute 33 passing through this bearing and emptying into the sifter B. The sifter C has no perforated sifting surface. The receiver C is pivoted on an axis 34 and if it becomes overloaded will discharge the original material back into a hopper 35 and to a cask 36 to be used over again.

It will be seen that this series of members A, B and C all have means for rotating them on their axes, that they are of different shapes for different purposes and reasons and that there is in the cases of the sitters A and B a discharge through the sifting holes 20 and 2 and also a discharge at times around the upper edges for the purposes which have been described. Each one, of course, can be replaced by a siiter of different size, or shape, or size oi perforations, but the difference between the shapes of the sifters A and B is due to the necessity of operation and to the desirability of introducing a sifted product into the separator A and sifting it therein into the chute 2| but allowing the unsifted product in that sifter to go back into the chute 22 with the siited product from the sifter B, when desired. The angles of all of these members can be turned very easily and such adjustments made as may be desired for the purpose of producing the desired series of sifted products. By these three members A, B and C, four grades of material are provided but the rst grade is the original material introduced into the machine.

It is within the scope of this invention to make more than four members or less. To make more than four, additional separators will be used or, if fewer separations are required, the member B will be dispensed with, bringing the members A and C into cooperation with each other.

The material to be separated is placed in the hopper 31 which deposits it continuously on ythe inside surface of the receiver C near the edge. All these members are revolving all the time. The ner material travels up the curved surface toward the center while the coarser may fall off the separator at the edge, The material is deposited by gravity on the separator B at the edge and the process is repeated as the coarser material is sifted out and the finer material passed on in the machine. By varying the shapes of these members A, B and C and tilting' their axes to the proper angle for any material, the desired grades may be obtained.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

l. In a machine for separating materials into different sizes, the combination of a rotary separator having an inside surface curved in two directions at right angles to each other and having a comparatively narrow closed but finely perforated end and a much larger open end, said curved surface along the bottom being higher than the bottom of the open end, means for introducing the material to be separated into the open end of said separator, means for rotating the separator, whereby the material will tend to flow along the lower side toward the small end, a second curved inner surfaced separator having a comparatively wide construction with a large open end and an obtuse closed end opposite, provided with perforations, and means fo-r rotating the second separator, whereby there is a tendency for the material operated on thereby to move up the wall of the second separator by centrifugal force.

2. In a machine for separating materials into different sizes, the combination of a rotary separator on an inclined axis having a comparatively narrow closed and curved perforated end and a much larger open end connected with a curved inner surface higher at the perforated end than at the open end, means for introducing the Ina,.- terial to be separated into said separator, means for rotating the separator, whereby the material will tend to flow upwardly along the side toward the small end, a hopper located at the open en d for receiving any material that is not sifted, a hopper for receiving the material that is sifted through the openings in the small end, a second separator having a comparatively wide construction with a large open end and an obtuse closed end opposite, provided with perforations, the perforated end of the first separator slightly entering the open end of the second separator, means for rotating the second separator on an inclined central axis slanted less than the flrst axis, whereby there is a tendency for the material operated on thereby to move up the Wall of the second separator by centrifugal force, the wide edge of the second separator extending into the hopper so that the material not acted upon by the second separator will fall into the hopper with that in the first named separator.

3. In a machine for separating materials, the combination of two separators, each having longitudinally curved sides but the second one being widely curved and the first one being narrowly'curved, each with a perforated apex at one end and an opposite open end, the perforated apex of one entering slightly the wide open end of the other of a member also having.. curved sides and an open end and provided with a hollow shaftv in position for delivering into one side ofthe open end of the first separator, means for rotating all three of these members on axes disposed atA differentv angles to each other, and means for adjusting all three of these members so that their axes may vary to suit the kind of product.

FRANKLIN N. FAIRBANK. 

